What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Caerfinon]

New game... new planes

So I needed a new plane because a level 1 SPH can only launch 30 parts, and quite a few of my planes for Trans Kerbin Airlines are in the 40 part range, or if they are 30 have higher tech tree requirements. 

The solution? The Jabiru! So let's start an airline!

Mission parameters met!

Let's get KAA Inspector Matcas Kerman back to the base. 

Mission accomplished! Now the flying really begins.  The Jabiru , available at a KerbalX outlet near you.

[Lisias]

So I expend some time toying on 1.12.2 to see how KAX (and Firespitter) are behaving on it. End ended up reproducing the Apollo Soucek’s High Altitude Record.  He used a Wright XF3W Apache biplane, so a biplane I did - but used a turbo-prop instead of a radial engine. I think this is the reason I ended up climbing to 20K meters high (7K more than him). On a fabric biplane…

Anyway. This rendered some good screenshots and fun!

After breaking the game, I mean, the record I managed to even "buzz" the tower at incredibly 40m/s  , and then made a very nice landing approach, one of the best I ever did!

And then I messed up.

MOAR PICS on my site, Craft on Kerbal-X.

— — — 

@Caerfinon, I feel your pain bro!!  

Edited August 27, 2021 by Lisias
Pain.

[Caerfinon]

13 minutes ago, Lisias said:

I feel your pain bro!!

It was a nice flight all until that last bit ( makes me think that early tech planes are supposed to land that way).

[pmborg]

On 8/25/2021 at 4:03 PM, pmborg said:

I am still trying to find the best Visual Combo: WORK IN PROGRESS

Custom configs:

Addons with Special Honor Mentions:

DavonTCsystemsMod, CivilianPopulation and ShowFPS (from @linuxgurugamer) to do the initial VSTOL stunt maneuver

TweakScale and KSP Recall (from @Lisias)

OPT (from @JadeOfMaar)

KSPI+InterstellarFuelSwitch (from: @FreeThinker)

Kopernicus BE special release: (KopernicusBE_19+_Release81.zip ) (from: @R-T-B)

RSS+EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements+EVO with ultra settings: https://github.com/Its-Just-Luci/EVO/releases/download/Alpha-v0.2a/EVO-64k.Alpha.v0.2.zip

TUFX,and many others...

FINAL NOTES:

All of this will be installed by one script only, I will add more details later...

Hello all,

I finished the script to install all this visual pack, I hope you all enjoy it.

It is available here:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pmborg/SpaceX-RO-Falcons/main/ULTRA-EVO-INSTALLER-v1.0-KSP1.11%2B.bat

You can just copy it to main KSP root directory (sample:  C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Kerbal Space Program) and then just run it.

It is done in order to support KSP v1.11 and KSP v1.12, was tested in both.

 

I am not sure if this subject deserves a dedicated post thread, I will count with your suggestions.

Thanks and cheers!

 

Note:

I will release later a final pack with the ship and the mods for the ship.

But once this ship is very complex to operate due life support need a separated video to show how it works.

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by pmborg

[Stormpilot]

I have not played for a while so I did a simple rover to the mun:

[septemberWaves]

9 hours ago, LetMePickThat said:

Which parts mods did you use? Looks like a Surveyor...

In this image, these are all BDB parts. Specifically, this design is the Ranger lander concept shown on this page.

[ColdJ]

9 hours ago, Stormpilot said:

I have not played for a while so I did a simple rover to the mun:

What mod are the wheels from?

[pmborg]

23 hours ago, Lisias said:

So I expend some time toying on 1.12.2 to see how KAX (and Firespitter) are behaving on it. End ended up reproducing the Apollo Soucek’s High Altitude Record.  He used a Wright XF3W Apache biplane, so a biplane I did - but used a turbo-prop instead of a radial engine. I think this is the reason I ended up climbing to 20K meters high (7K more than him). On a fabric biplane…

Anyway. This rendered some good screenshots and fun!

After breaking the game, I mean, the record I managed to even "buzz" the tower at incredibly 40m/s  , and then made a very nice landing approach, one of the best I ever did!

And then I messed up.

MOAR PICS on my site, Craft on Kerbal-X.

— — — 

@Caerfinon, I feel your pain bro!!  

I will test this airplane with the Ultra-EVO

The test rig was installed with: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pmborg/SpaceX-RO-Falcons/main/ULTRA-EVO-INSTALLER-v1.0-KSP1.11%2B.bat

Than added:
Firespitter (Firespitter v7.17)
Firespitter Core (FirespitterCore v7.17)
Firespitter Resources config (FirespitterResourcesConfig v7.17)
KSP Recall (KSP-Recall v0.2.0.5)
TweakScale - Rescale Everything! (TweakScale v2.4.5.3)

@Lisias

VIDEO:

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by pmborg

[Caerfinon]

Built some more lo-tech versions of the fleet.

I needed a seaplane that worked on only tech 3 parts. So I re-engineered the "Seawind" to meet the requirements.

Starts from the KSC Shores pier.

Val easily gets the craft airborne.

Now for a little trip around the islands.

The Seawind is based on an original design by  MaikMakensi - The Maik McSeaplane on KerbalX

 

[Stormpilot]

7 hours ago, ColdJ said:

What mod are the wheels from?

Stock but ReStock makes them look better. It dose it too a bunch of other rocket parts too.

[Caerfinon]

For the record, I do launch things into space... every now and then.

 

[Hyperspace Industries]

Quite possibly my first (or one of my first), zero g eva, so far I have done many evas, but all on planets (or moons, or other gravitational bodies). I used a kas winch as a tether, Buster Kerman wouldn't have survived without it:

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Hyperspace Industries

[Kerb24]

For the entire summer, I have been working on a crewed 2 way Eve lander. It might be done soon.

[Lisias]

6 hours ago, pmborg said:

I will test this airplane with the Ultra-EVO

The test rig was installed with: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pmborg/SpaceX-RO-Falcons/main/ULTRA-EVO-INSTALLER-v1.0-KSP1.11%2B.bat

Than added:
Firespitter (Firespitter v7.17)
Firespitter Core (FirespitterCore v7.17)
Firespitter Resources config (FirespitterResourcesConfig v7.17)
KSP Recall (KSP-Recall v0.2.0.5)
TweakScale - Rescale Everything! (TweakScale v2.4.5.3)

The newer KSP add'ons visuals are something, I can tell you. Beautiful video!  (and nice landing!!!! )

I gave this craft a run for its money on KSP 1.7.3 - my current line of research is to detect, as possible, the differences between KSP 1.12.2 and 1.7.3 (and later from 1.3.1 too) on the physics engine, and so try to trim the Physics.cfg file to allow keep all my crafts flying fine on 1.12.

Until now, the differences are pretty subtle, the final performance of this craft on 1.7.3 was nearly identical to 1.12.2 - what changes is the between - on 1.7.3 the engine's power curve is less aggressive, I still can to a vertical but for less time. The craft also started to struggle with thermals a couple thousand meters sooner, but in both situations they reached 20K meters high - but, surprisingly, with pretty higher speeds on 1.7.3!

In time, there's some adjustments that can be made for this craft: use TweakScale to make the rudder fin about 25% bigger (as it lacks yaw authority while flying and landing!), and turning off the auto-dumper&springs on the wheels, as this craft appears to be too light for the auto algorithm, what make it a bit "jumpy" on landing (what, added to the lack of yaw authority, makes the landing harder that it should).  

So my initial hypothesis vented on KAX's thread appears to be valid: there're some changes on the drag model and perhaps thermals on KSP >= 1.8 that, intentionally or not, ended up making some things 'easier'.  Not exactly a surprise, as my hydrofoils designs demonstrated previously.  What's happening is that now I'm gathering evidences of this happening on the atmosphere, and not only on water.

I'm relatively confident that by mangling properly drag (and friction) on the physics.cfg we can mimic the 1.7.3 behaviour on 1.12, and my designs will work the same (what I really would like to happen).

On KSP 1.4.1 I got somewhat similar results than on 1.7.3. (I have the feeling the the craft struggled a bit more to reach 20K meters high, and the thermals are definitively different - I think the thermals made more sense on 1.4.1, by the way...).

What now leads us to the final step of the testings: KSP 1..3.1. Downporting crafts to 1.3.1 is a pain in the SAS, however… Most of my attempts usually ends on failure, and I end up rebuilding the craft from scratch - what I did.

Things are way wilder on KSP 1.3.1 !! The craft took off instantly,  and did a ballistic to 1.800 meters without any effort at all!! The SAS also behave way more smoothly, by the way. By a mile. The craft also climbed somewhat easier too, and the yaw authority appears to be better. The thermals look like the 1.7.3 behaviour, I think.

So I may have to bite my tongue here about KSP 1.12.2… People coming from 1.3.1 may (at least under this preliminary report) fell more comfortable on KSP 1.12 than on the Unity 2017 times (KSP 1.4 to 1.7.3). Well, that caught me with my pants down, no doubt! (I had almost no playing time on KSP 1.3.1, when I finally bought KSP for my self birthday present, KSP 1.4.0 was the newest one and I started on it).

(additionally, I'm using my own adapted FS that was instrumented to run from 1.3.1 to 1.12.2 using the very same package, so this may be a contributing factor, so I will need to revisit this issue later)

 

Hint: use the flaperons to Pitch, and be able to do really crazy stunts!!!  (Eat your heart out, F-35!!!)

 

As usual, full albums on my site. Craft (including the KSP backported versions) on KerbalX - remember to click on the "Versions" thingy on the top left of the page.

[Dr. Kerbal]

I sm currently flying a 130 or more seat ssto to gilly and back. Though it would be new and kinds funny. 

[pmborg]

1 hour ago, Lisias said:

The newer KSP add'ons visuals are something, I can tell you. Beautiful video!  (and nice landing!!!! )

I gave this craft a run for its money on KSP 1.7.3 - my current line of research is to detect, as possible, the differences between KSP 1.12.2 and 1.7.3 (and later from 1.3.1 too) on the physics engine, and so try to trim the Physics.cfg file to allow keep all my crafts flying fine on 1.12.

Until now, the differences are pretty subtle, the final performance of this craft on 1.7.3 was nearly identical to 1.12.2 - what changes is the between - on 1.7.3 the engine's power curve is less aggressive, I still can to a vertical but for less time. The craft also started to struggle with thermals a couple thousand meters sooner, but in both situations they reached 20K meters high - but, surprisingly, with pretty higher speeds on 1.7.3!

In time, there's some adjustments that can be made for this craft: use TweakScale to make the rudder fin about 25% bigger (as it lacks yaw authority while flying and landing!), and turning off the auto-dumper&springs on the wheels, as this craft appears to be too light for the auto algorithm, what make it a bit "jumpy" on landing (what, added to the lack of yaw authority, makes the landing harder that it should).  

So my initial hypothesis vented on KAX's thread appears to be valid: there're some changes on the drag model and perhaps thermals on KSP >= 1.8 that, intentionally or not, ended up making some things 'easier'.  Not exactly a surprise, as my hydrofoils designs demonstrated previously.  What's happening is that now I'm gathering evidences of this happening on the atmosphere, and not only on water.

I'm relatively confident that by mangling properly drag (and friction) on the physics.cfg we can mimic the 1.7.3 behaviour on 1.12, and my designs will work the same (what I really would like to happen).

On KSP 1.4.1 I got somewhat similar results than on 1.7.3. (I have the feeling the the craft struggled a bit more to reach 20K meters high, and the thermals are definitively different - I think the thermals made more sense on 1.4.1, by the way...).

What now leads us to the final step of the testings: KSP 1..3.1. Downporting crafts to 1.3.1 is a pain in the SAS, however… Most of my attempts usually ends on failure, and I end up rebuilding the craft from scratch - what I did.

Things are way wilder on KSP 1.3.1 !! The craft took off instantly,  and did a ballistic to 1.800 meters without any effort at all!! The SAS also behave way more smoothly, by the way. By a mile. The craft also climbed somewhat easier too, and the yaw authority appears to be better. The thermals look like the 1.7.3 behaviour, I think.

So I may have to bite my tongue here about KSP 1.12.2… People coming from 1.3.1 may (at least under this preliminary report) fell more comfortable on KSP 1.12 than on the Unity 2017 times (KSP 1.4 to 1.7.3). Well, that caught me with my pants down, no doubt! (I had almost no playing time on KSP 1.3.1, when I finally bought KSP for my self birthday present, KSP 1.4.0 was the newest one and I started on it).

(additionally, I'm using my own adapted FS that was instrumented to run from 1.3.1 to 1.12.2 using the very same package, so this may be a contributing factor, so I will need to revisit this issue later)

 

Hint: use the flaperons to Pitch, and be able to do really crazy stunts!!!  (Eat your heart out, F-35!!!)

 

As usual, full albums on my site. Craft (including the KSP backported versions) on KerbalX - remember to click on the "Versions" thingy on the top left of the page.

Hi @Lisias

yes the airplane is nice, but please don't do looping like that with full throttle at the descent! , in real life neither pilot or aircraft can do that.

Try to use SpeedUnitChanger (it helps a lot) to check the real speed in knots make more sense in a airplane, which is very useful to fly an airplane in KSP, I use it a lot!

A good loop should pool about 3.5G

Never exceed +6G or -3G or 182 kn that is more realistic for this airplane, which belong to Acrobatic Category .

I just found strange that when I reduced the throttle in the engine it had a tendency to do left that is not natural.

Actually the normal thing is have that to the at take off, due torque effect and slipstream but that is not very well reproduced in KSP in my opinion.

Check navball units

 

"The newer KSP add'ons visuals are something, I can tell you. Beautiful video!  (and nice landing!!!! )"

I changed the config files of EVO and RSSVE in order to do a merge and get the best of those instead of just use one or another...

 

Cheers!

 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by pmborg

[Lisias]

14 minutes ago, pmborg said:

yes the airplane is nice, but please don't do looping like that with full throttle at the descent! , in real life neither pilot or aircraft can do that.

The problem is that, on KSP Physics, by not doing that I smashed the ground because on the end of the second turnaround I ended up almost without airspeed and, so, without lift neither atitute authority. Having the engine on max gave me almost instant airspeed and so the control surfaces could act. This thing gets airborn in 3 seconds, so high is the TWR!

 

18 minutes ago, pmborg said:

Try to use SpeedUnitChanger (it helps a lot) to check the real speed in knots make more sense in a airplane, which is very useful to fly an airplane in KSP, I use it a lot!

Thanks for the tip! (To tell you the true, this test were made on my 1.3.1 test bed, that are meant to be constantly destroyed and rebuilt, so the set of add'ons are minimal!)

 

19 minutes ago, pmborg said:

A good loop should pool about 3.5G

Never exceed +6G or -3G or 182 kn that is more realistic for this airplane, which belong to Acrobatic Category .

I would not call it a loop, but something like a Pugachev's Cobra followed by a double turnaround on the wing's axis - what's possible exactly because the engine on max induced the physics engine to give me some attitude authority besides the low airspeeds on the control surfaces.

 

24 minutes ago, pmborg said:

I just found strange that when I reduced the throttle in the engine it had a tendency to do left that is not natural.

You got the problem I described above - without engine, you have no attitude authority. The tendency to do left is inherent to the random number generator on KSP. It's the same phenomena that was making landed crafts to drift to the left in the past!

 

27 minutes ago, pmborg said:

Actually the normal thing is have that to the at take off, due torque effect and slipstream but that is not very well reproduced in KSP in my opinion.

I played a lot with Flight Unlimited on the golden days (yeah, now everybody knows from where I was inspired to make this craft!), and yeah, the Extra 300 had a lot of torque effect - you would literally be thrown out of the runway if you thrust the plane too much on landing...

(and the manual of this game was something worth of being read)

Spoiler

 

 

[pmborg]

13 hours ago, Lisias said:

The problem is that, on KSP Physics, by not doing that I smashed the ground because on the end of the second turnaround I ended up almost without airspeed and, so, without lift neither atitute authority. Having the engine on max gave me almost instant airspeed and so the control surfaces could act. This thing gets airborn in 3 seconds, so high is the TWR!

 yes the TWR of 1.17 in this airplane, is too much the value should be between 0.6 and 0.8 it would be more realistic.

There are a few aircraft in the world that today do more than 1.0 TWR:

The addon SpeedUnitChanger here don't affect the FPS... you will not even notice and can be disabled even if loaded in gui.

 

Edited August 29, 2021 by pmborg

[Angelo Kerman]

I finished the  IXS Cockpit. It is inspired by the IXS Enterprise cockpit by Mark Rademaker. The IXS Cockpit is a size 2 part that hosts up to 3 of the A-51 Flapjack saucer sections from Kerbal Flying Saucers.

(Yes I know there's a mod for this...)

[Sp1f]

I tried to do a backflip with my Mun base. 

 

[Krazy1]

53 minutes ago, Sp1f said:

I tried to do a backflip with my Mun base.

You totally did a backflip... and celebrated with explosions.

[ColdJ]

4 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

I finished the  IXS Cockpit. It is inspired by the IXS Enterprise cockpit by Mark Rademaker. The IXS Cockpit is a size 2 part that hosts up to 3 of the A-51 Flapjack saucer sections from Kerbal Flying Saucers.

You are seriously showing off now. But more importantly.

Where do I get this so I can play with cool ships?

[Angelo Kerman]

2 hours ago, ColdJ said:

You are seriously showing off now. But more importantly.

Where do I get this so I can play with cool ships?

I’m aiming for sometime next week for the next release of Kerbal Flying Saucers, so, soon!

[Mr.dobsonian]

I downloaded some near future mods following my first mods that I downloaded yesterday, I also started a new science save for said mods. 

[Lisias]

21 hours ago, Caerfinon said:

For the record, I do launch things into space... every now and then.

Me too!!!

(Let's ignore the solar panels on a WW1 design made on the late WW2 era… )

Full res images on my site, craft on Kerbal-X.

 

13 hours ago, pmborg said:

 yes the TWR of 1.17 in this airplane, is too much the value should be between 0.6 and 0.8 it would be more realistic.

Yep, I trimmed down the engine to 0.79 TWR and did a better job on setting up the flaperons (the lower ones were doing negative work!), and managed to do the stunt even better. Still need to find a way to lower that Gs (11.8 on peak) tough.

Full scale images on my site.